


Liquid Luck

by Dobbys_Sock_7812



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Marauders, Potions, Potions Accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 03:56:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2010039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dobbys_Sock_7812/pseuds/Dobbys_Sock_7812
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing about luck is you don't know if it's good or bad until you find some perspective...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liquid Luck

The desks were banished to the far side of the classroom with a casual flick of the wand. Lily followed suit with the other students and dumped her bag in the other corner before making her way to the congregation of sixth year students in the centre, all the while chatting animatedly with her best friend Mary Macdonald. 

“So you don’t think it’s true then?” The latter girl chirped, allowing her blonde hair to fall in front of her eyes.

“Mary, this is the girl that bunked off for three days and tried to get off with it by saying she’d been kidnapped by the giant squid,” Lily giggled.

“Are you sure she was kidnapped? I wouldn’t put it past her to go willingly; she looks part squid,” 

Lily’s unsuccessful attempt at supressing a shriek of laughter turned quite a few heads in the small class. Rather embarrassed she playfully hit Mary on the arm.

“That was mean,” she reprimanded, amused.

“But funny,” her friend pointed out. “And she brought it on herself,”

Still smiling, Mary dragged Lily to the front of the group. Her long, red hair moved about behind her as if dancing; a detail that went unnoticed by most, apart from another Gryffindor with messy black hair who surveyed her with a curious interest from the corner. His attention was diverted however, when Professor Slughorn re-entered the room, arms laden with a curious combination of objects. The clunk of them hitting the desk echoed in the cold dungeon and the man looked round the room enthusiastically.

“My my, what a happy bunch we have here. Tell me, why the long faces?” He asked unnecessarily. 

A small, timid-looking Slytherin girl named Judith Everdeen sniffed in reproach to his insensitivity, which seemed strange, until Lily remembered that this was the girl whose uncle was murdered not a week ago. Dark times indeed when even the supposed “evil house” aren’t safe anymore. 

“Well young’uns, I fancy I’m not alone in my belief that this misery has been going on for far too long. That is why today I want a Euphoria potion from each of you that’s so… well… euphoric it could have the Dark Lord himself skipping through the meadow,” 

The last statement received a few appreciative giggles, and Slughorn allowed himself a dramatic pause to drink in the approval before continuing.

“And to get the motivational juices flowing I brought with me a few prizes… third place gets a bottle of Odgen’s premium old Firewhiskey. Second place gets a voucher for a month’s supply of chocolate at Honeyduke’s, and first prize-”

This was the smallest object out of the three Slughorn had previously brought into the room. A tiny phial containing a viscous liquid carrying the colour of gold that glittered like diamonds as the light hit it. A few students surveyed it with mild curiosity; others appeared to be in a trance-like state. Slughorn seemed to be enjoying the effect it was having on his sixth years and twirled the bottle between his fingers, allowing the potion to crash against the edges of the glass like the ocean on rocks.

“-Can anybody tell me what this is?” 

Before he even finished his sentence, Lily’s hand shot straight up into the air. At this, he gave a raucous bout of laughter.

“I had no doubt my dear, but let’s give the other chumps a shot shall we?” 

He looked around the room melodramatically, with the air of someone who is lost, before turning back to Lily with a look of mock surprise.

“Yes Miss Evans?”

“It’s Felix Felicis, the most powerful luck potion in the world.” She said quickly.

“Of course it is, five points to Gryffindor!”

This enticed a few betrayed groans from the more serious Slytherins of the group, but Slughorn either didn’t notice, or merely elected to ignore them. 

“Yes, as Miss Evans correctly put, it is a luck potion. Very difficult to make and delightfully rare as a consequence as the results are so disastrous if brewed incorrectly. A few drops and you’ll find your endeavours succeeding and your desires coming to light until the effects wear off. I must stress that this may not be used on days of important exams, competitions etcetera, etcetera. Take this potion on a normal day and watch as your ordinary day becomes extraordinary…” 

He took a step back as he finished, and there was a great scramble as everyone rushed to their bags and set up their cauldrons at the respective benches. The laughter of the Marauders resonated around the entire classroom, infuriating Lily, who fully intended to take this seriously. This was not about the prize, it was about pride. 

Unlike every other lesson, Professor Slughorn had not cast the instructions onto the blackboard, deciding to see how his students would fair if left to their own devices and textbooks. The fruits of this plan were already apparent in some of the more inept students. Marlene McKinnon’s potion had congealed together to form a sad little ball at the bottom of her cauldron, and a Slytherin girl whose name Lily didn’t know had to be sent to Madame Pomfrey to treat the burns to her hand that were the product of the foul-smelling green liquid in her cauldron.

Lily however, was on a mission. A euphoria potion, though not particularly complicated, comprised of many ingredients, and it was far too easy to mix up the ingredients from one line with another. As yet, all had gone smoothly. She had read and reread every single line, and took care to make sure her shrivel fig roots were cut to exactly the same size. She could see (and smell) that she was further along with her potion and in a far better position than most of those around her. While waiting for the potion to simmer as it gradually turned a pale orange from red, Lily chanced a look at the rest of the class. Most of the students were difficult to see, obscured by shimmering, colourful steam that issued from most cauldrons. Her eyes fell upon James, who she was both shocked and furious to find, was ahead of her. Fuming, she jabbed the bottom of her cauldron with her wand to increase the area of the flames. This was war.

Over on the other side of the classroom, James Potter was rather surprised to find himself on the last line of the instructions. His potion looked great, he supposed. The consistency could be a tad less viscous but all in all it was shaping up to be a fantastic euphoria concoction.

“How’s things Prongs?” asked Sirius from his left.

“Excellent, Voldy will be tap-dancing before we know it,” James grinned, earning a chuckle from both Sirius and Peter.   
“How’s yours?”

“Terrible,” Sirius answered, gesturing to the twisted lump of black that was once his cauldron. “Wormtail thought it was his didn’t he? Didn’t let it simmer before adding the damn beans and it overheated,”

“Prat,” Muttered James, giving a shout of laughter. “You’ll be the death of us,” He continued, clapping Peter on the shoulder, who laughed along with them.

James’ laughter however, was cut short as he looked up to find that Severus Snape was ahead of not only him, but the rest of the class. Disgusted with himself for allowing his speed to slip, he stirred his potion counter-clockwise seven times, a plan formulating in his mind as he watched Severus lay out his supply of bat spleens on the desk.

A deafening bang brought the entire class to attention. Fighting his way through the narrow gaps between the benches, Slughorn moved towards the source of the cauldron. To his surprise, he found an extremely sooty Severus Snape lying spread eagled on the floor, having been blasted back from the smoking cauldron. Pinching his nose, Slughorn peered tentatively into the cauldron where he found, not the potion, but a burnt, slimy mess.

“Not your best work Mr Snape, I must admit,” he observed unnecessarily. “But on that note people, time’s up! Let’s see what you’ve got in your cauldrons!” 

As Slughorn began his patrol, James slid back into his seat, thoroughly pleased with himself until he looked at his own cauldron, to which he had failed to add the final ingredient. This meant that instead of the sunshine yellow the potion should be, it was more of a very pale orange. Slughorn evidently, noticed this as he passed by James’ cauldron with an encouraging smile, but without comment. When he reached Lily’s potion however, he clapped his hands together once and a grin spread across his round face.

“The perfect consistency and the perfect shade of yellow. I believe we have a clear winner here; in fact I’m sure Miss Evans would not object at all to sharing a few pointers with the rest of you!”

“Not at all sir,” She said quietly, practically shaking with supressed glee. She’d beaten him.

When Slughorn handed her the phial of Felix Felicis, Lily didn’t bother to hide her smile, and even uncharacteristically sent a smug glance James way. Although he responded with a wink, which ruined the moment somewhat.   
After a few more words of congratulations from Slughorn as he handed out second and third prizes, the class began to disperse but a sound from the corner of the room made the few remaining students turn in surprise.

“I know it was you Potter!”

James widened his eyes innocently, looking around the room in apparent surprise. No one was fooled though; the smirk on his face was arrogant and obvious, as was his custom. 

“Why my dear Snivellous, I have no idea as to what you are insinuating,” he declared, hand reaching out to pat Severus on the shoulder.

Needless to say this was less than well received by the Slytherin, who was all but burning with rage as he slapped the hand away.

“You ruined my potion.” He snarled.

“I did no such thing, and anyway, it’s a friendly competition. What does it matter to you?”

The look Severus sent Lily’s way was almost imperceptible, but not entirely unnoticed since Sirius let out a signature, bark-like laugh. Now shaking, Severus drew his wand and before any of the party could blink, a jet of purple flew past James’ ear.

“Oh ho, what do we have here?” Came Slughorn’s booming voice as he waddled over, stomach wobbling.

“Just a friendly debate over the results of the competition, sir,” Said James politely.

“Ah, congratulating Lily I see,” He chuckled, completely misconstruing the words of others, as per.

With that, Slughorn marched back to his office, and the remaining students left the room in silence. Upon reaching the threshold of the classroom, the Marauders burst into a cacophony of raucous laughter and wandered off.

***

Back in the Gryffindor common room, Lily found herself spread-eagled over the bulging sofa in front of the fire. Her legs were all but in Mary’s face, whose annoyance was amusing. Jenna sat in front of the fire reading, her sleek brunette curls bouncing every time she moved. 

“So have you taken it yet?” the latter girl asked, raising her midnight blue eyes to meet Lily’s emerald counterparts.

“Sorry?”

“All the gold in Gringotts. What do you think?” she chuckled.

“Of course I haven’t, what on earth would I spend it o-?”

Lily’s question was cut short by a pillow to her face. Mary stifled a shriek of laughter with her hand.

“Nah, I’m saving it,” 

“What on Earth for?” asked Mary, kicking her friend’s legs off of the sofa.

“A rainy day I guess,” was the quiet answer she received.

For a moment there was silence, as each of the girls imagined what they would do with it. Truth be told, Mary could use it more than either of them, since her brother had been bitten by Fenrir Greyback less than a month ago. The day it happened still haunted Lily’s thoughts; the handwriting on the letter shaky, written by a person less than composed, Mary’s heart-shaped face shining with tears. A day where everything went right for her surely wouldn’t go amiss, however Lily had already made the generous offer, which Mary vehemently refused.

“You know,” Jenna said, her smooth voice cutting through the silence. “It rains on average 150 days a year in this country,”

And thus the laughter was revived.

***

The next morning made its appearance far too soon for Lily’s liking, eyes still partially closed, she stood up and rooted around her bedside for a while before her hands fell upon the desired object. Taking her robes and toiletries into the bathroom, she hurriedly got dressed. Opening the pale blue make-up bag, Lily’s eyes fell upon a phial of golden liquid poking out from underneath the other bottles. Fighting a smile, and the tendrils of temptation that were taking hold, she snapped the bag shut and brushed her teeth.

Still, the potion occupied her thoughts as she got ready. She could always take just a few drops. Rushing back to the make-up bag and extracting the little bottle, she uncorked it and brought it to her lips.

As Jenna would say, what the hell. 

For the first few moments Lily felt no change, like she had simply tipped a few drops of water onto her tongue. A few moments after that however and… nope… still nothing. Maybe it would take a while to kick in, Lily reasoned to herself, hauling her bag over her shoulder and entering the rest of the common room. 

It was then that she was hit with that son of a bitch called realisation. Cold, hard, sudden realisation. Her transfiguration textbook, and the homework that resided within it, were not in her bag, and they were due today. Barely registering the faces of her two best friends, Lily tore her way through the common room and all but dived through the portrait hole. Mentally she began to retrace her steps and was certain in the fact that she had not brought it back to the common room. Therefore the next logical step was Potions. She ran down the stairs to the dungeon with a vengeance after crossing numerous corridors and searched her classroom. 

Since breakfast was still on in the Great hall above, Slughorn was nowhere to be found in the potions classroom, which was perfect, since Lily was not in the mood to talk to anyone right now. It’s alright, she told herself. You are under the influence of luck potion, everything will be fine. Repeating this mantra, Lily covered every inch of the classroom, starting with her own working area, before feeling her stomach drop in defeat. 

This was short lived though, somehow, though she wasn’t quite sure how, Lily knew that it would indeed be alright. A slight smile on her face, she walked back to the common room, though the walk was not as lonely as she had anticipated.

“Hello,” 

Lily stopped dead in her tracks. If not for his greeting she would have completely bypassed him. She still considered doing so, but for reasons unbeknownst to her, she didn’t.   
And that made all the difference.

“Hello,” She returned.

He ruffled his hair; a nervous gesture which looked entirely foreign coming from him, like he didn’t know why he was there. The silence that followed her greeting was long, or perhaps it just seemed that way because of the awkwardness that accompanied it. In a stroke of uncharacteristic confidence, Lily was the one to dispel the quiet.

“So did you?” 

“Did I-? James looked rather confused.

“Sabotage Sev-… Snape’s potion?”

“Well yeah,” He grinned as though it was obvious, but what Lily did not fail to notice was that it was quite a sheepish smile that sat on James Potter’s face.

Call the Daily Prophet.

“So go ahead, tell me how much you disapprove oh mighty prefect,” he chuckled.

Lily pretended to ponder this for a moment, and couldn’t quite help the giggle at his new found term of address for her as they began walking.

“Well I was going to, but since you begged me so nicely not to…” she replied, and he laughed at the sarcasm.

Lily almost reeled with shock when the two found themselves outside the transfiguration classroom. The facial expressions of the other three marauders almost exactly mirrored Lily’s feelings. Here she stood being… dare she say it… civil, with none other than James Potter.

Once the class was settled, McGonagall decided to take a moment to mention the homework and with a flick of her wand, about twenty scrolls of parchment flew in her direction and landed neatly in the open drawer of her desk. Lily opened her mouth, unsure herself of how to begin apologising. A perfect record ruined, and this was supposed to be her lucky day?

However, before her clumsy words could permeate the air, Professor McGonagall addressed the class.

“I notice,” She began curtly. “That I have not received everyone’s homework-”  
Lily slid down her chair slightly.

“Can I expect yours on my desk by tonight Mr Black or should I hand you a detention slip now?”

Sirius flashed her a winning smile which was returned with an exasperated sigh.

“I’ll clear my schedule for you Professor,”

Shaking her head, McGonagall continued.

“You might want to consider taking a leaf out Miss Evans’ book in future and handing your assignments in early,”

At this, Lily’s head snapped up. The shock she felt was such that she barely registered Sirius’ sarcastic response. Early? 

That was when the crumpled piece of parchment arrived on her desk, containing only two words-

You’re welcome.

-in the unmistakable scrawl of one James Potter. 

This was usually Lily’s queue to roll her eyes, however she was feeling extraordinarily light today. It wasn’t a coincidence that Potter had found her homework. It was luck. Blind luck. The weightlessness was such that she tried to scowl and ended up flashing him what could only have been an extremely goofy and lopsided grin.

***

Charms continued in much the same way. Professor Flitwick gave them a practice N.E.W.T exam, stating that he wasn’t expecting anything from it but it was useful to see the papers early on, and there were questions pertaining to topics they had covered. Lily glanced around at the other circular tables and saw that a few of her classmates appeared slightly nervous, and contrastingly to her usual persona, she couldn’t bring herself to care quite as much as they did. It wasn’t real, what was there to worry about really?

As it turned out, very little.

Obviously old Felix doesn’t improve brain power, so the stuff they hadn’t covered was always going to be a lost cause, but it was pretty safe to say that Lily knew more than most. She received the highest marks by far, much to the chagrin of everyone else. Lily’s friends however, found the whole thing hilarious.

“What?” She snapped, or tried to, it being a rather difficult feat when one is on such a high.

“Well…” Jenna snickered, her nose scrunching up. “This is a bit of a conundrum, because, like, you’re a know it all anyway. So was this luck or your usual self? How do we know the potion is even working properly?”

“Because I feel too happy to slap you round the head for the know-it-all comment?” Lily suggested, earning a snort from Mary.

Sure, Lily had done some reading ahead, because, well, that’s what Lily does. However there were some questions that were just plain guesses. Lucky guesses really.   
As per usual, Lily and her friends were last out of the classroom, not particularly caring to rush. Everyone else had gone down to dinner, so Lily was surprised to find James stood outside the class fiddling with the sleeves on his cloak.

“Hey Evans,” he began. “Nice job on the homework, really nice,”

“Have you really resorted to complementing me on homework? That’s a new low,” She chuckled and the smile momentarily faded from James’ face until he saw she was laughing too.

“I’ve used up all my best pick up lines, if you want more you’ll have to be patient,” He stated, wearing that familiar smug smile.

And Lily laughed. She laughed. Like actually laughed. She didn’t hex him. She laughed.

A genuine laugh as well, not like the smug giggling emanating from her two best friends in the corner, who took it upon themselves to attempt to leave unnoticed. Once alone, the atmosphere became a little awkward between the two, and to fill the air with something, they began to walk to the great hall together. The conversation began as awkward small talk as Lily ran her hand along the stonework as they moved through the corridor towards the stairs. 

“Why do you do that?” James inquired of the strange habit.

“Uh…” Was her elegant response as she ran the other hand through her hair. “I guess it’s relaxing?”

“Oh,” he eventually managed, unsure of how to respond to that, or as to why he asked in the first place.

Would the awkwardness never end?

“I took the potion today,” She tried lamely.

The surprise was great enough to stop James in his tracks entirely. He leaned against the wall, ignoring the angry outbursts as his left hand covered the face of the woman in the painting he was leaning on.

“So this was supposed to be your lucky day. And you’re here with me?” 

She cocked an eyebrow at him.

“I guess it’s faulty. You know Sluggy and his alcohol; he probably brewed it wrong,”

And rather than being offended, he found himself laughing at her. 

***

Here they were again. This time however, Lily wasn’t quite sure how it even happened. She sure as hell didn’t start it, and she sure as hell didn’t mean to. Yet here they were, after a perfectly good day of being civil to each other, Lily Evans and James Potter were having the mother of all shouting matches in the corridor leading to the Entrance Hall. 

Sure, Lily shrieking at James until the tapestries themselves shrivelled up and bled was not unheard of. But how many times over the years had he truly been angry at her? She could probably count on one hand. And to her own annoyance, she could not even deny that for all his flaws, James Potter was a patient man. Said patience however, had apparently worn thin today. The shouting match continued for several minutes until it reached a point where neither were quite making any sense anymore, not that she cared.   
Her happy bubble had been utterly deflated and she had went from a building feeling of friendship towards James Potter to hating everything about him from his warm, hazel eyes to the way his glasses fall askew when he shouts. She was so ready to hex him but instead settled on something which she could never imagine herself not regretting.

She made a comment about his Mother.

Immature? Maybe, but she didn’t care. At least, Lily didn’t care until she saw his reaction. All shouting on his part ceased and the fire in his eyes was replaced by a cold hard look, loathing etched into the very creases of his face as he backed away from her. 

“I realise,” he sneered in a voice quite unlike his own. “That you on many occasions fail to see past the end of your own nose, but really it wasn’t that long ago,”  
And that was when Lily remembered. Her very insides filled with dread as the very last of the potion’s effects slipped away into nothingness. His Mother was dead. It was less than a week ago, how could she have forgotten?

Utterly horror struck, she started towards the man that began to look more broken by the second.

“James,” she whispered.

And that was when he slid to the floor. Before Lily could even register what she was doing she was on her knees beside him, patting his back awkwardly.

“James I’m so sorry.”

And to make matters worse, instead of the scathing remark Lily was hoping for that she knew she deserved, his head flopped sideways as he began to sob openly into her shoulder. This horrified Lily to no end, it was awkward and it wasn’t him to show such raw emotion in front of another person. She stared at him for a moment, wishing he would stop, and wondering what exactly about this situation was making her feel so ill. And that was when it struck her—she hated seeing him unhappy. After several minutes of waiting for his grief to dissipate with Lily clinging to the back of his shirt, she stood up slowly, pulling James with her. 

“Let’s go back to the common room,” she said quietly.

He nodded and let her guide him up the stairs and to the portrait hole. The heat of the common room was an instant comfort after the freezing temperatures elsewhere in the castle. James gazed around the room with glassy eyes, not taking anything in apart from Lily’s voice as she told him to wait by the stairs for a moment. 

After several moments she returned with a sock. James found the energy to look momentarily puzzled as Lily hurried over with the spotty garment. His silent questions were answered quickly as she picked up his hand and held it flat before tipping the sock upside down. A tiny crystal phial fell onto his palm containing what could only be described as liquid gold.

“Lily, what are you doing?” he frowned.

“I want you to have it. I’ve already had a turn, you could use some luck,” she managed a small smile.

“Look, I don’t want a pity party so if that’s what you’re-” he began, holding his hand out to try to give it back, but Lily stopped him.

“It’s not a pity party. Believe me it’s anything but. If anything it’s an apology, but I really don’t want it anymore,” she stated firmly, holding her head high in such a stubborn way he had to smile.

“Well thank you,” he said warmly, apparently forgetting his anger.

Then he disappeared up the stairs to his dormitory, leaving Lily feeling much happier than she did before, or had all day to be exact.


End file.
